PAiN

So, we got home on Friday 4/22 evening from the Hospital "Inn." I hadn't told the boys that Brian was coming home b/c I didn't want to disappoint them if he didn't for some reason. When we got home, they were extremely HaPpY to see him.

It was a very ruff Friday evening though...Brian got in the van to come home and lost it. I think he was extremely anxious about the ride home and being around the boys. So, we ate dinner with the boys and both sets of parents and then packed the boys up to sleep over at my parents house.

Since then, Brian has had his ups and downs. Although, his incision sites are healing and feeling better he has continued to have nerve and muscle pain. We met with his surgeon last Wednesday and he said that Brian is Exceptionally RARE, but WE all knew that right?? The conclusion to his continued nerve and muscle pain is to start a drug for nerve pain and a muscle relaxer for muscle spasms and his pain medication was also changed. The poor boy is on meds every 3-4 hours. I joked buying an old person's weekly pill box for him......but I do see the importance for those pill boxes. The question around the house is.....when was the last time I took that pill? OR When I am do for my next pills?

He can also control some the nerve irritation buy not having clothes rub on his abdomen and back.....Brian's solution is to wear his white undershirt "pulled up threw the neck gay" as he puts it. We are all fortunate enough to see his big budda belly 24/7. It is all still sexy swollen from his surgery.

In other news, I worked last Saturday to help move our patients from the old hospital to the NEW U of M Amplatz Children's Hospital. It took over 300 staff members and 11 ambulances to move 59 patients in 6 hours and 30 minutes. The unit I work on moved the very 1st patient and the very last patient. It is exciting to be in our new space and I am sure the patients and their families are excited and happy as well. NO MORE SHARING ROOMS! ALL ROOMS ARE PRIVATE. I think if you go to www.uofmchildrenshospital.org you can pics of it.

That's all for now, I need to sleep and gear up for a busy weekend.

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers! Brian is healing a little bit everyday:)

Home Sweet Home

Just wanted to let everyone know that Brian was discharged from the Hospital Inn and has checked into his very own home. We got home around 6:15 pm. The boys were SO excited to see Brian!

I'll post more tomorrow....need to get some sleep before the next pain meds are due at 3:30am!

Post-Op Day 4

CHEST TUBE IS OUT!!!! He will have a chest x-ray around 10:30 am. We should be home later today!

Post-op Day 3

Last evening I was able to wash Brian's hair!! YEAH! He also got his chest dressing changed last night per my request.

I got home around 9:30 last night and got the boys to bed by 10:30, ate a yummy dinner provided by my wonderful cousin Meredith and was asleep by 11:30.

Again, I woke up to Peter at 6:30 am needing to go to the potty. Then Brian called at 7am to tell me he is spending another night at "The Hospital Inn." He had around 450 mls out his chest tube yesterday. It is definitely decreasing but still not where it needs to be. It sounds like he had a pretty good night besides the hallucinations of the boys toys melting into the computer and then the walls melting.

He also had the pleasure of having awesome nurse last night that we knew from growing up. It was spoiling Sir Brian and making him PB and J at 4 in the morning. Well, he better enjoy it b/c I will not be doing that at home:)

Brian is also moving up the the hospital world....he has a window view now!!!!

I have to take the boys to swimming tonight and then we'll bring up dinner for Brian so the boys can see him again.

Post-op Day 2

Well, I got home last night to 3 boys waiting for their mom to give them kisses and to tuck them in. I first had to answer a thousand questions about dad and how he is doing and when is he coming home???

It is also really hard because even though we are telling them what is going on they don't understand why dad is still in the hospital. Peter was clinging to me, Joe was acting out and throwing a screaming fit and Tom went to bed with a picture of Brian b/c he misses him so much :(

By 10pm the boys were finally asleep and I had to wash Tom's pants he had pee'd in at preschool (which he has never done since being potty trained), eat dinner, and then fell into bed around 11:30pm.

I woke up at 6:30am to the boys telling me to look outside and see all the SNOW!!!! This winter stuff is getting old. Sunny and 60 would be nice:)

Brian called around 7am to tell me the news he is staying another night. It is beginning to feel like groundhogs day.

Around 10:30, I headed up to the hospital and the boys along with Jim and Diane met us around 11am. Brian was really excited to see them as they were to see him. Brian was able to walk down to a lounge that overlooks the Mississippi River. The boys enjoyed talking to dad, eating snacks, and admiring the river.

We, of course, had to stop down on 5a to see my co-workers per the boys request on the way out.

Brian is catching a snooze now and then the plan will be to eat dinner, get him freshened up and then head home to put the kiddos to bed.

As far as his chest tube goes, the nurse said he has had 240 mls out since 4am. Still above the where they want it, so I am beginning to wonder if he'll stay tomorrow as well. We'll have to wait and see:)

Post op Day 1

Hey Everyone,

I left last night around 12am and Brian was resting as comfortably as he could be considering what he had been through. When I got home, I heard Peter crying. He couldn't tell me what was wrong, but after some tylenol and some loving from mom he slept the rest of the night. I was then able to crawl into bed around 1:30am and sleep until Brian called me at 6:30am.

The docs said he was spending another day due to the amount of chest tube output. He needs to have less than 200 mls out in a 24 hour period. To put it in perspective when I got here and looked at the output it read 500 mls......I secretly said to myself "sugar beets" he's not going home today nor tomorrow. So we are playing it one day at a time.

This morning and this afternoon he was having really bad right sided neck and shoulder pain. Luckily it has gotten better throughout the day with some bumps of "D" bombs aka IV Dilaudid. He is eating, drinking, peeing and passing gas.......YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!!! The things that make nurses so happy.

I am going to get him up to walk again and then get him cleaned up for the night. Then off to the house for the night to hopefully get more sleep than last night.

Thanks again for all the thoughts and prayers!

On the Unit

Brian got to his room around 7:15pm. The boys and my parents came up around that time too:) In order to pass some time, I took the boys to the floor where I work to see all my co-workers. Tom, Joe, and Peter were able to check out some of the crying babies and the playroom where the patients play.

We then headed back up stairs to see Brian. The boys were quite at first, but then started asking all these medical questions. I think we might have some future MD's on our hands :)

Earlier this evening, he was complaining of a lot of pain on the right side of his chest and neck. The nurse increased his pain med, which helped with the pain, but in return made him really out of it. He is requiring 2 liters of oxygen and has this giant chest tube hanging out of his chest. Respiratory therapy came and gave him a neb to help with his lungs.

Currently, he is resting comfortably and I'll probably head home to sleep and then be back early in the am to hear what the docs have to say. I would be REALLY surprised if he goes home tomorrow. I will keep you all posted!

Thanks for the phone calls and prayers!! We greatly appreciate them!

In Recovery

Brian is in Recovery!! They were able to get it with no problems!! The surgeon says he has 4 small incisions along with a chest tube. The plan is to stay the night and maybe get the chest tube out sometime tomorrow.

PrAyErS PlEaSe

I am asking for some extra prayers today. A few months ago, Brian was diagnosed with a rare ganglion neuroma tumor (non-cancerous) near his spine. Today, he is having it removed and is currently in the OR now. I hadn't posted anything prior b/c Brian didn't want to worry anyone. So, I warned him today that I would be making a posting today and he conceded. I will post more after I talk to the Surgeon.

Day 4

The boys hanging out by the flamingos at Sea World.

The boys getting ready to watch Sesame Street in 4 D. Peter refused to wear the glasses.

Seals basking in the sun.


More flamingos
My favorite..sea turtles!

Love this pic!

more turtles.....

Octopus anyone??

Tom touching the star fish.

The boys checking out the star fish.




Peter taking a break from the animals to snack on a juicy California orange!
Joe eating his juicy orange.


This dolphin kept getting us ALL WET!
Brian and Joe attempting to pet the dolphin. The dolphin in return gave Joe a nice gift of getting his shirt all wet.

The seal show



This bird watched us eat our lunch VERY intently.

The boys checking out the tree house inside the Sesame Street play area.

Jumping in the bounce house.

SHAMU!!





SHARKS!

Peter's frightful look in front of the shark window.

Tom being SILLY with 3 hats.

Joe and I on an ELMO ride.

Monday January 24^th, 2011

Sea World

Life is SO much better when one has gotten a good nights sleep! 9 hours for me! I can’t tell you the last time I have slept that long!

We enjoyed our breakfast up in the club room. The boys were the only kids up there; luckily there were really good. One lady came up to us and commented on how well behaved they are.

All three guys sat at a table overlooking the harbor eating their oatmeal, yogurt, and lucky charms. Discussing how old Peter will be when Tom and Joe are 5 and so forth….very cute.

Then it was down to the lobby to purchase our Sea World Tickets!

We had SO MUCH fun at Sea World! The boys enjoyed watching a Sesame Street movie in 4D where water came shooting out at us, chairs vibrated and bubbles fell from the sky. Tom and Joe were digging it until they got wet….Tom said, “I’m never going to one of these things again…getting me all wet…now I am going to have to change my clothes.”

The Sea Turtles were awesome, but I am bias because I love turtles! Brian got some great pics of them sunning themselves on the rock.

The boys were able to pet the star fish, sting ray, and get really close to the dolphins. It was quite amusing b/c the dolphins would come right up to you and spit water at you or splash you with their tales. Joe will tell you that the dolphin got his “arm ALL wet.”

After that, we saw the sea lion show, which the boys also enjoyed. Just go ahead and ask Peter to make the seal noise “HAAAAAAAAAAAARC” pretty entertaining.

We sat and ate our lunch with a bunch of sea gulls waiting to eat our left overs.

After lunch, the boys went to Sesame Street play area, where they climbed this giant tree house like thing. They had a blast and probably could have played in there a lot longer but off to the Shamu show we went to get some good seats.

Killer whales are amazingly large creatures! The show was filled with jumps and flips in the air to get us all wet! By now, the boys were done with getting all wet so luckily the whales didn’t splash as high as we were sitting. Brian also took some great pictures of these awesome animals.

The one exhibit that Peter wanted to see was the shark encounter. He kept asking while were in there if the sharks were going to bite him…..legitimate question, I guess.

Since we had an hour before the park closed the boys wanted to go on some Sesame Street rides….so I got to ride the Elmo wheel 3 times while the boys each took their turn…..I guess that will leave Brian with some of the rides at DisneylandJ

For dinner, we ate at a place called Pizza Nova! I had spotted it on the way home from dinner last night and thought it looked like a fun place. It was delicious!! The boys ordered mac’n cheese and Brian had a liguine dish and I had a pizza! Yummy!

Back to the Hotel around 7pm and boys in bed by 7:30pm….time for a bath and to get caught up on our adventures!

Day 3

Brian fix'n the boys lunch out on the patio.


Tom enjoying time at the pool!


View from our hotel room

Sunday Janurary 23^rd

Church, swim, Depart for San Diego

On Sunday we woke up ate some breakfast and then we were off to Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Palm Desert. Mass was at 9:30, so we left around 9 and got there around 9:26 and the place was packed!! There were police directing traffic in and out and by the time we entered the church there was no where to sit besides way off to the side where we couldn’t see the alter at all. The boys were pretty good, except for the fact that we didn’t bring Joe’s favorite blankie and he whined and cried about it the whole time.

After mass we stopped off at the local Walgreen’s, that’s right Nick and Jess, in honor of you, I bought some nail polish since I had forgot to pack my own before leavingJ

Then is was back to Dee and Tom’s place for some mean egg mcmuffin sandwiches while watching the golfer’s out on the patio. It is so funny, the boys will be talking loud and once they spot a golf cart they say “ we need to be really quiet so the golfers can concentrate. When the golfer hits the ball in the water, then they shout “Hey Dad, did you see that ball…it landed right into the water!”

After a yummy breakfast and visiting with the neighbor Joan, we decided to go for a swim! The boys really enjoy being in the water and really like the hot tub. Another funny side note, Peter is now calling the pool a “cold tub.”

Once the boys looked like a bunch of raisins, it was back to the house for a quick shower and change. I quick did a load of laundry and then we packed up the cool mini-van to head to San Diego before the sun set.

It was a good idea. The boys fell asleep after 2 minutes in the car and slept for the 2 hour drive to San Diego. Brian and I had a nice and peaceful drive filled with ups and downs due to the mountainous region. We also enjoyed munchin’ on a bag of pistachios.

Thanks to our Tom Tom we were able to reach our Hotel destination "The Sheraton" in Harbor Island. It is right next to the airport and the harbor so the boys are loving watching the planes take off and seeing all the hundreds of boats docked in the bay.

Bellmen are AWESOME! They unload your car and take all the stuff up to your room and unload it……not needed prior to having kids, but is the coolest thing ever now!

For dinner we headed to a place called Miguels a Mexican restaurant in Port Loma. The boys seemed to like it and we did as well. Margaritas and food both tasted very good after a long day.

Back to the hotel we went to check out the very large pool and then go to bed. Take note that both Brian and I were in bed before 10pm!......this NEVER happens!!